Thursday, January 17, 2013

Comic Review: Poison Elves: Presumed Dead by Drew Hayes

Five years after the death of its creator Drew Hayes, APE Entertainment is reviving the much-loved indie fantasy series Poison Elves, promising that the new book will stay as true to Hayes' vision as possible.

Big shout out to author James R. Tuck for posting about the relaunch of the 1990’s cult classic comic Poison Elves. I hadn't heard of this comic before last week, but one look at the cover and some of the interior artwork and I knew this was something I had to see. It is an action/adventure, D&D-style, old school story for mature audiences and features elves . And yeah, I got a thing for Fae and the guy on the front is kind of hot, even with the big ass ears.Ape Entertainment was kind enough to send me an ASHCAN copy (Sharon learned a new word folks) It is a promotional comic in the independent/self-publishing market. The official Poison Elves comic will be released on March 20, and will have an extra 4 page story plus some other goodies included.Little background on Poison Elves (if you are a longtime fan then you can skip this part)Drew Hayes self-published his comic I, Lusiphur in 1991, which was about the exploits of an Elf named Lusipher. Hayes changed the title to Poison Elves, and around the mid-90s he signed with Sirius Entertainment. He stayed with Sirius until 2004 with issue #79. The comic gained a loyal cult audience that followed the series until Hayes untimely death in 2007, and many fans thought that was the end of their beloved comic.Enter… Ape Entertainment and owner David Hedgecock. He didn't want to reboot the series, but rather continue it with the same intentions and style of Hayes. They scoured Hayes's notes and used that material to pick up the series where it left off at #79 hoping to honor Hayes and please longtime fans. The new comic will debut in March, with covers by Darick Robertson, Terry Moore, and art by Osvaldo Montpeller (interior artist).

Terry Moore cover

Osvaldo Montpeller cover

What I thoughtAs someone new to the Poison Elves series, I found Presumed Dead an entertaining read. I like fantasy, action, and horror (this means lots of killing and blood) and Poison Elves delivers. The protagonist Lusiphur (Luse) is a great character along with his sidekicks Bob, a human, and a small fairy named Petunia. There is a serious story line about Luse’s guilt for leaving his friend Jace behind to be captured at The Fell while he left to save Wisp, and his determination to rescue Jace, but fate has other plans for him. The comic is also mixed with a lot of humor, mostly in the form of Luse’s smart-ass attitude. Not to mention he has an imp living in his head that seems to give him advice at inconvenient times and a sentient sword that seems to have more power over him than he wants to admit.

I found the story a little hard to follow at first. The artwork is in black and white, staying true to its original form, but sometimes the characters looked too much alike and since I had no previous knowledge of the characters I got confused and had to go back and forth comparing names and drawings often. The story timeline was also hard to follow because the events switched between three different time frames. Jace narrates some of the story and the rest is flash backs to the events that happened to Luse while visiting the High Council right after Jace's capture. I don’t think any of this will be a problem for long time fans.

Starting this series at this point will take a little effort on your part. You will have to track down some character information, but well worth it if you enjoy this type of comic.

About Ape EntertainmentFounded in 2003, Ape Entertainment is the brainchild of lifelong comic book devotees David Hedgecock and Brent E. Erwin. Ape Entertainment is the comic book home to innovative new titles such as LITTLE GREEN MEN, SCOUTS, and HERO WITHIN. Ape is also the North American publisher for licensed properties THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR, KUNG FU PANDA, RICHIE RICH, CASPER, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, POCKET GOD, and CUT THE ROPE. Visit Ape Entertainment online at ApeComics.com.

Agreed, even as a longtime fan, I found some characters hard to tell apart, since the art is a quite a bit muddier than The Master's...sometimes less is more. But definitely a FAR superior product to all those knock-offs that came out shortly after Drew's untimely departure. Thanks, Robb for bringing a legend back to life.

Glad it wasn't just me! I had to flip from page to page and try to figure out who was who. But when it comes to graphic novels I tend to do that anyway. I adore the cover art for this one. Thanks for commenting!